Stewardship Agreement

Proper stewardship is necessary to preserve midge tolerance so farmers can continue to benefit from this technology. Farmers buying midge tolerant wheat are required to sign a Midge Tolerant Wheat Stewardship Agreement that limits the use of farm-saved seed to one generation past Certified Seed.

This condition is critical because wheat midge may attack the refuge variety and the level of the refuge in farm-saved seed may change substantially over multiple generations. For example, under an extremely heavy midge infestation, the susceptible refuge variety could sustain up to 50 percent yield loss. To keep the refuge at the desired level of 10 percent of the plant population, it is necessary to limit the use of farm-saved seed to one generation past Certified Seed.